Sleep Medicine and Research Center

Meet the Team

James K. Walsh, PhDExecutive Director and Senior Scientist

James K. Walsh is executive director and senior scientist of St. Luke's Sleep Medicine and Research Center, visiting professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University and adjunct professor of psychology at Saint Louis University. He also serves as executive director of the Academic Alliance for SleepResearch.

Dr. Walsh received his doctorate in experimental psychology from Saint Louis University in 1978. Since 1975 he has written more than 175 scientific manuscripts and chapters. His primary research interests include insomnia, clinical pharmacology, shift work and the relationship of sleep and behavior.

He is on the editorial board of Sleep and was a member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) from 1984 to 1993 (president, 1991-92) and the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) from 1997 to 2009 (chairman, 2001-05). He has served on the board of directors of the Sleep Research Society (SRS) since 2005 (president, 2010-11). From 1994 to 1997 he was a member of the Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board for the National Center for Sleep Disorders Research at the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Walsh has received awards including the AASM's 1995 Nathaniel Kleitman Award for Distinguished Service, the Lewis University Alumni Achievement Award in Psychology in 1994, the AASM's Senator Mark Hatfield Public Policy Award in 1998 and the NSF's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.